A compact camera from Nikon with 1" sensor

Very interesting rumor: some people expect to see a premium Nikon compact camera (with fixed lens), 1" sensor and bright zoom lens.

AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/4G ED VR

Today Nikon announced a new AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/4G ED VR telephoto lens that will make many people happy. I was very tempted to go Canon because of a similar lens renown for stellar performance. I use ZUIKO 50-200mm F2.8-3.5 on Olympus DSLR and do like the results. Fujifilm has XF 55-200mm F2.8-4.8 OIS lens in their lens roadmap planned for release early next year.

Australian Water Dragon | Olympus E-30, ZUIKO 50-200mm SWD

cost of mirrorless

I guess the mirrorless cameras have less details than DSLR. The whole mirror mechanism is absent, and many mirrorless cameras do not have a viewfinder. So the manufacturing cost should be less than for DSLR. But now in Australia some Nikon DSLR kits are cheaper than Nikon 1 mirrorless cameras. Obviously, I am talking about cheap DSLRs such as Nikon D3000 or D3100. Also, Nikon 1 cameras have 1' sensor that is smaller than APS-C censor used in DSLR, and generally small sensors cost less...

Obviously, the cost depends on many factors including production volume, price of spare parts and cost of design. But do the camera manufacturers make any profit from entry-level DSLRs? Entry-level Canon DSLR kits cost below 600AUD while Canon Powershot G1X is priced at 800AUD.

I have not realized that now we have essentially 3 (three) companies producing "traditional" DSLRs. I am talking about cameras I can buy in Ted's. It seems that Sony moved to NEX and SLT models, and traditional DSLRs are mainly produced by Canon, Nikon and Pentax. Of these, only Canon does not play mirrorless game...

just bits and pieces

Several days ago dpreview have published their opinion on the Olympus OM-D E-M5. Arguably, it is the best m4/3 camera from Olympus. The price of the E-M5 in Australia is similar to the US price, if you shop around. After all, it is Australia, and here big shops give discounts when you ask to match the price and pay cash. This is very welcome change because most cameras in Down Under are priced significantly higher.

Recently Samsung finally had announced three new mirrorless cameras aimed on different users. The pricing in Australia is unknown, but in the US the NX20 is priced similar to Olympus OM-D E-M5. The NX is very attractive system, especially considering available lenses.

On other hand, it is amazing that two giants of the camera world are essentially in hibernation in area of mirrirless cameras. OK, last year Nikon had released two Nikon 1 cameras with very limited external controls, and Canon recently had announced G1X with very slow lens. Compare Nikon to Samsung/Olympus/Panasonic, and Canon to Fuji. Both Nikon and Canon invested heavily into DSLR cameras and lenses. I bet both companies can create very capable mirrorless cameras but this will affect their DSLRs business. While both companies do enjoy a loyalty of photographers (invest in lenses not cameras :)) it might last until development of fast focus on mirrorless cameras. Ten years ago Kodak was a big company... Ironically, Kodak developed (one of) the first digital camera and shelved it. It didn't help.